Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this section are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
Certain medical states or conditions of a human body can be detected by detecting one or more properties of blood in the body. In some examples, such medical states can be detected by extracting a sample of the blood from the body and detecting the one or more properties of the extracted blood using a sensor or other system external to the body. For example, a lancet or other skin-penetrating device could be used to penetrate the skin such that blood is emitted from the skin and/or such that blood can be caused to be emitted from the skin. In another example, a needle, tubing, and other equipment could be used to access blood in an artery or vein of a body. Blood accessed from a body can be exposed to a sensor (e.g., a sensor placed in contact with blood at the surface of skin that has been penetrated). Additionally or alternatively, accessed blood can be stored for later analysis. In a particular example, a lancet can be used to penetrate skin, allowing blood to be emitted from the skin such that a blood glucose level of the blood can be measured using an electrochemical sensor placed in contact with the emitted blood.